In the last post of this blog series, I reflected briefly on the homepages of ProFlowers.com and 1800Flowers.com, the two top etailers in the category of gifts and flowers. Remember, the reason I decided to explore this category in the first place was the fact that in June Proflowers.com, 1800Flowers.com, and FTD.com all made it to the top 10 e-tailers sorted by conversion rate as reported by Neilsen Online with over 20% conversion rate each.

Amongst the top 500 retailers, in the vertical of flowers/gifts are two sites that clearly have sizable revenue, but are not doing as well in terms of conversion rate: Gifttree.com at 3.5% and Justflowers.com at 5%. In this post I will reflect briefly on their homepages.

Continue reading Analysis of the Top Converting Online Retailers: Homepages (3)

Tags: Conversion Optimization, Ecommerce, gift/flowers vertical, online retailers, top converting
Posted in Ecommerce

Small businesses don’t have the budget to pay the big agencies for big marketing. Instead they should turn to guerrilla tactics, approach things with a bit more savvy, and with a closer eye on value for money.

What often happens though is they pay cheap for a half-finished website by a local “designer” (amateur hobbyist who’s only other published site is their World of Warcraft webring). Initial results are poor so they turn their backs on the internet.

Online marketing has a world of potential for a smart business though, just follow these tips: Continue reading Internet Sales Tips for Small Businesses

Tags: Ecommerce, internet, local search, SEO
Posted in Sales & Marketing

We discussed in some details the initial stage of conducting a proof of concept. And while our discussion could be applied to selecting any enterprise application, I am more focused on ecommerce solutions in particular since that is an area I have been working in for the last 12 years or so.

The stages of conducting a POC are:

• Define a minimum set of business requirements
• Translate your requirements into scenarios
• Vendor invitations and initial interviews
• Proof of concept implementation
• Second round of vendor and solution reviews

Second round of vendor and solution reviews

In most cases, due to time or technical limits, most of the vendors will not be able to implement all of the scenarios you came up with. Your team needs to pay close attention to things the vendor was able to implement as well as those the vendor was not able to complete. Both of these areas are very telling about the true capabilities of the software package.

Continue reading Do ecommerce packages deliver on what they promise?

Tags: Ecommerce, enterprise application, optimization, POC, vendor solutions
Posted in Ecommerce

Ayat mentioned previously the three main options you have when building or creating a new ecommerce operation (part 1 and part 2):

• Custom develop the site to meet your own requirements
• Utilize a hosted ecommerce solution
• Choose an e-commerce packaged solution

Each of these options comes with its pluses and minuses and the two parts series about the criteria you should choose when selecting the best solution for your own needs provides a good starting point. Elastic path’s webinar on the art and science of selecting an Ecommerce package selection is a must watch as well to get you started.

Continue reading Enterprise E-commerce Software: Let Them Prove It Before You Buy It

Tags: e-commerce software, Ecommerce, POC, proof of concept
Posted in Ecommerce

If you follow the list of top online retailers in terms of conversion, you must notice that online flower stores usually make it to the top of the list on a regular basis.

In June of this year 3 flower/gift online stores stood out amongst the top 5 e-tailers by conversion rate.

These three ecommerce sites are:

Continue reading Analysis of the Top Converting Online Retailers: Best of Ecommerce

Tags: e-retailers, Ecommerce, top ecommerce sites, top etailers
Posted in Conversion Optimization, Ecommerce, Sales & Marketing

A common theme with corporate sites, ecommerce and service oriented sellers I speak to is what I call “The lights are on but nobody is home” syndrome.

What is this sales-killing malady and how can you solve it?

Read on!
Continue reading Can Customers Tell You Are Open for Business?

Tags: copywriting, Ecommerce, marketing, sales
Posted in Ecommerce

1. Any chump can put a char on a hot dog. Testing a website takes a little more than coming up with hundreds of variables to test on a single page. Use your time to understand what variables would actually make a difference with your site visitors.

2. Slow work days call for DIY optimization work. You don’t have to wait for outside consultants to tell you how to implement small changes in your website. Take some initiative.

3. A tan should be the sum of your summer experience not a bullet point on your to do list. Conversion optimization for ecommerce is an ongoing process. Forget about doing one optimization project and thinking that you are done. There is more room for improvement.

Continue reading New Rules of Ecommerce: Hot Dogs, Tanning and Sex on the Beach

Tags: Conversion Optimization, Ecommerce
Posted in Conversion Optimization, Ecommerce, Sales & Marketing

Customer response is measured by metrics such as the conversion rate, total online sales, bounce and exit rates, etc. all of which can be found simply if you click on your analytics dashboard. But similarly, you can’t just rely on your analytics data for the entire picture. There are metrics that are based on the site’s performance, if measured correctly, can really help pinpoint the symptoms that are leading to low conversion rate etc..

According to Internet Retailer’s Andrea Mulligan there are 3 performance metrics that are directly related to the online experience and of course impact sales: Store Availability, Response Time, and Consistency. The Internet Retailer’s Top 500 were measured against these metrics:

Continue reading Online experience metrics from the top 500 e-retailers

Tags: Ecommerce, online retailers, performance metrics, response time, store availability
Posted in Ecommerce, Technology

On most ecommerce websites category pages and their categorization schemes are driven by a business process giving very little attention to the heart of any transaction: the online visitor.

Ultimately, a category page plays an important supporting role in funneling traffic to product pages. Amazon.com, for example, expects the visitor to navigate to the product page to add an item to your cart.

Continue reading Ecommerce Websites Design: 8 Essential Elements of Successful Category Pages

Tags: category pages, Ecommerce, ecommerce-optimization, web-design
Posted in Conversion Optimization, Ecommerce

Sitebrand is holding a webinar this Wednesday 7/29 titled "Danskin: Can It Repeat Its Cyber Monday Mega Success?" with Jessica Koster, Danskin’s Director of e-Commerce Marketing. If you haven’t been following Danskin, the company built a very successful online strategy last year by creating specific personalized campaigns that dynamically change for every visitor.

Elastic Path is holding a webinar on 8/14 titled "The Art & Science of Choosing Ecommerce Technology" with Bernardine Wu, the CEO of FitForCommerce. This webinar should very interesting to anyone looking at the wide spectrum of different technologies used to host ecommerce solutions.

Finally, on the new book "Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer" should be released on 8/11. This is the first book on Google optimizer. The book is authored by leading conversion experts Bryan Eisenberg and John Quarto-vonTivadar.  You can pre-order your copy from Amazon.

Tags: conversion webinars, Ecommerce, ecommerce webinar
Posted in Conversion Optimization, Miscellaneous